Happiness Is Being With The Spinners Spinners

• 1 Now That We're Together 03:35
• 2 You'll All I Need in Life 04:29
• 3 If You Can't Be in Love 03:32
• 4 Rubberband Man 07:23
• 5 Toni My Love 03:44
• 6 Four Hands in the Fire 04:04
• 7 Clown 05:08
• 8 Wake Up Susan 03:27
• Total Runtime 35:22

Info for Happiness Is Being With The Spinners

As 1975's classic Pick of the Litter seemed to garner its strength from melancholy and faultless arrangements, this 1976 studio follow-up often wallows in style over substance and platitudes. The pretty but vacuous "Now That We're Together" is all over the road and has inane lyrics like, "You're such a great crowd/Why don't you sing loud." Other tracks "You're All I Need in Life" and "If You Can't Be in Love" all put into practice arrangements and themes that were better executed on New and Improved. Although things get a little mushy here, producer Thom Bell and the Spinners do have their moments here.

The highly danceable and infectious "Rubberband Man" breaks out of this effort's stodgy surroundings and gave lead singer Philippe Wynne plenty of room for his skilled scatting and effortless riffing. The best non-hit on this effort is "Toni My Love." The song is jazzy rumination on a mature relationship and it's the only track that's skilled enough to stand tall on Pick of the Litter. Despite the few high points, Happiness Is Being With the Spinners winds down before any of its predecessors did. The best of the last tracks, "The Clown" is a little overwrought and Philippe Wynne sounds like his hands are tied.

Happiness Is Being With the Spinners is one of the first Bell efforts to be partially recorded at Kaye Smith Studios in Seattle, WA, and was mastered at A&M Studios rather than Philadelphia's Sigma Sound. That fact arguably changed the winning formula and for the most part this falls short of the work that came before it. (Jason Elias, All Music)

Philippé Wynne, vocals
Billy Henderson, vocals
Bobbie Smith, vocals
Henry Fambrough, vocals
Pervis Jackson, vocals
Bobby Eli, guitar
Tony Bell, guitar
Bob Babbit, bass
Andrew Smith, drums
Larry Washington, percussion
Mother Father Sister Brother Orchestra
Barbara Ingram, backing vocals
Carla Benson, backing vocals
Evette Benton, backing vocals

Recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, Pa. & Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, Washington
Mixed at Sound Labs, Los Angeles, California & Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, Washington
Mastered at A&M Studios, Hollywood, Calif.
Mastered by Bernie Grundman
Engineered by Don Murray
Produced and arranged by Thom Bell

The Spinners
were the greatest soul group of the early '70s, creating a body of work that defined the lush, seductive sound of Philly soul. Ironically, the band's roots lay in Detroit, where they formed as a doo wop group during the late '50s. Throughout the '60s, the Spinners tried to land a hit by adapting to the shifting fashions of R&B and pop. By the mid-'60s, they had signed with Motown Records, but the label never gave the group much consideration. 'It's a Shame' became a hit in 1970, but the label continued to ignore the group, and dropped the band two years later. Unsigned and featuring new lead singer Phillipe Wynne, the Spinners seemed destined to never break into the big leagues, but they managed to sign with Atlantic Records, where they began working with producer Thom Bell. With his assistance, the Spinners developed a distinctive sound, one that relied on Wynne's breathtaking falsetto and the group's intricate vocal harmonies. Bell provided the group with an appropriately detailed production, creating a detailed web of horns, strings, backing vocals, and lightly funky rhythms. Between 1972 and 1977, the Spinners and Bell recorded a number of soul classics, including 'I'll Be Around,' 'Could It Be I'm Falling in Love,' 'Mighty Love,' 'Ghetto Child,' 'Then Came You,' 'Games People Play,' and 'The Rubberband Man.' Wynne left in 1977 and the Spinners had hits for a few years after his departure, but the group will always be remembered for its classic mid-'70s work.

Originally, called the Domingoes, the Spinners formed when the quintet members were high school students in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale in 1957. At the time, the group featured Bobbie Smith, Pervis Jackson, George W. Dixon, Billy Henderson, and Henry Fambrough. Four years later, they came to the attention of producer Harvey Fuqua, who began recording the group — who were now called the Spinners — for his Tri-Phi Records. The band's first single, 'That's What Girls Are Made For,' became a Top Ten R&B hit upon its 1961 release and featured Smith on vocals. Following its release, Dixon was replaced by Edgar 'Chico' Edwards. Over the next few years, the group released a series of failed singles, and when Tri-Phi was bought out by Motown in the mid-'60s, the Spinners became part of the larger company's roster. By that time, Edwards had been replaced by G.C. Cameron.

Though the Spinners had some R&B hits at Motown during the late '60s, including 'I'll Always Love You' and 'Truly Yours,' they didn't have a genuine crossover success until 1970, when Stevie Wonder gave the group 'It's a Shame.' Motown never concentrated on the Spinners, and they let the group go in 1972. Before the band signed with Atlantic Records, Phillipe Wynne replaced Cameron as the group's lead vocalist. Wynne had previously sung with Catfish and Bootsy Collins.

At Atlantic Records, the Spinners worked with producer Thom Bell, who gave the group a lush, seductive sound, complete with sighing strings, a tight rhythm section, sultry horns, and a slight funk underpinning. Wynne quickly emerged as a first-rate soul singer, and the combination of the group's harmonies, Wynne's soaring leads, and Bell's meticulous production made the Spinners the most popular soul group of the '70s. Once the group signed with Atlantic, they became a veritable hit machine, topping the R&B and pop charts with songs like 'I'll Be Around,' 'Could It Be I'm Falling in Love,' 'One of a Kind (Love Affair),' 'Ghetto Child,' 'Rubberband Man,' and 'You're Throwing a Good Love Away.' Not only were their singles hits, but their albums constantly went gold and charted in the Top 20.

Wynne left the band to pursue a solo career in 1977; he was replaced by John Edwards. Though none of Wynne's solo records were big hits, his tours with Parliament-Funkadelic were well received, as were his solo concerts. In October 1984, he died of a heart attack during a concert in Oakland, California. The Spinners, meanwhile, had a number of minor hits in the late '70s, highlighted by their disco covers of 'Working My Way Back to You' and the medley 'Cupid/I've Loved You for a Long Time.' During the early '80s, they had several minor hits before fading away from the charts and entering the oldies circuit, reprising their earlier material for 1999's new studio effort At Their Best. Bobbie Smith, who sang lead on several of the Spinners' '70s hits including 'I'll Be Around' and 'Could It Be I'm Falling in Love,' died from complications of pneumonia and influenza in March 2013.

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